FURNITURE store staff are celebrating after helping their company raise £13m for a charity at the forefront of the fight against heart disease.

The team at DFS Bolton joined forces with the more than 100 of the chain’s other stores across the country to reach the milestone sum in aid of the British Heart Foundation (BHF).

The store, based at Middlebrook Retail Park, has participated in DFS’ sofa donation project since May 2012.

The scheme allows hundreds of thousands of customers to have their unwanted sofa collected for free by the BHF when they take delivery of a new one from DFS.

The old sofa is then sold by the BHF in one of its furniture and electrical stores across the country to help raise money to fund lifesaving heart research.

To mark the achievement gold medal-winning Olympic gymnast, Max Whitlock, has been promoting the importance of recycling unwanted sofas, by demonstrating exercises people can do on them to help keep your heart healthy.

Mark Edgar, store manager at DFS Bolton, said: “It’s a sobering thought to think that on average 435 people lose their lives to cardiovascular disease every day. Myself and the entire Bolton team are proud to know that all money raised from the sofa donation project supports the BHF’s life saving research.

“There are no words to describe the importance of what the BHF do in our communities to help make sure more of us than ever before survive our battles with cardiovascular disease and support our loved ones whose battles are ongoing.”

Mike Taylor, retail director at the British Heart Foundation, added: “We’re so grateful to DFS and their customers for raising a staggering £13 million since the partnership was formed in 2012. These vital funds help to power life saving heart research across the UK to beat contrary heart disease, the UK’s single biggest killer.”